


Do Pirates Dream of Electric Swans?

by TaarnaT



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Android AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama & Romance, F/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:56:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13756773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaarnaT/pseuds/TaarnaT
Summary: Mills Mechanics has made a fortune producing Compandroids, remarkably lifelike androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans and designed to be a perfect companion for the wealthy people who commission them. Built to the specifications of their respective owners, Emma and Killian are no exception to this, but still find themselves drawn to each other in a way that defies all logical explanation or programming. Haunted by a sense of loss even when happily living their separate lives, their circumstances have them returned to the factory headquarters at the same time, and they are astounded to discover that the face they've fallen for in their dreams is that of a fellow robot. If two lovers are made to be together, can anything truly keep them apart? Do you need a soul to have a soulmate? Written for the 2018 CSLB





	Do Pirates Dream of Electric Swans?

**Author's Note:**

> Author Note: After months of work and stress, here it is, my contribution to the Captain Swan Little Bang 2018! What can I say? I love androids, and I've had this story kicking around in my head since at least 2016 or so, but just couldn't find the time and inspiration to put it down in writing until joining the cslb gave me a deadline to push me through that block. Hopefully this little spurt of productivity is the start of getting back into writing regularly! Also, I need to send a big thank you out to my amazingly supportive cslb beta, branlovesouat on Tumblr for all her work and support and please check out starlessness and you're-not-a-cat-youre-a-rat on Tumblr to see their beautiful art for this story!

Just like that, She was everything. He didn’t know how else to express it. One moment he was just going through the motions as required and the next he _felt_. There was an awareness of her, that she was something beautiful, perfect, and rare. And she was looking at him the same way he was at her.

He heard a voice over the loudspeaker behind him, “Cognition is running on full auto and he’s attuned to the female.”

“Hey, there, buddy,” greeted the technician standing nearby with a tablet. “She is a stunner, isn’t she? Well, it’s your lucky day, cause I’m pretty sure she’s the one you’ll be paired with.”

The loudspeaker sounded again. “Looking that way. I’m just finishing up the compatibility studies but I don’t think we’ll have to get one out of storage. We can just test them together.”

“Should I wait to switch her over?”

“Nah I’m almost done here. You can go to physical and cognitive.”

He watched as the tech tapped various inputs into the tablet to turn the female’s automatic functions on, and marveled as she cocked her head and stared at him, mouth dropping open in surprise.

  
She’d never seen him before and yet, she had no doubt that he was the one. She didn’t know any truth more complete than that. His body, his heart, whatever he was, he was hers and she was his. God she needed to be with him- to know him, feel him and taste him.

The tech laughed at the two androids reactions, nudging the male with an elbow before turning to the female. “Looks like she’s into you too. Don’t go falling in love sweetheart. He’s just a fling.”

“You’re so weird, Jefferson,” the voice over the speaker asserted.

“August, come on. In a month they’ll be practically indistinguishable from a human,” the tech responded, checking a few measurements on his tablet as he spoke. “Why is my talking to them weird?”

The security guard by the room’s door and adjacent one-way mirror laughed quietly, earning him a glare. “I’m sorry, but you’d be weird even without the talking- you know that right?”

“Whatever, Dave. Anyway, he’s completely good to go. Give me 5 and she’ll be ready too. What’s the male’s name again? Kevin? No, Kieran?”

The speaker crackled to life. “Killian.”.

“I knew it was something with a K. Killian, meet Emma. Emma, this is Killian.”

Killian drank in the sight of the female before him, letting his memory catalogue the shade of her jade green eyes, the creamy paleness of her slightly freckled skin and the bright golden blonde of the hair that cascaded down her back. Classically beautiful in an old-Hollywood kind of way, she had been built to be lean, but undeniably feminine. God, she had truly been made to be both heaven and hell in one gorgeous package.

“Compatibility’s fully in the green on all measures, Jeff. I’ll start the physical tests while you finish her up, and then we can let them get acquainted while we grab lunch. David, you need to do anything before we go?” The blonde security officer shook his head, and moved to make a final sweep of the room as the engineer and tech continued their work.

Emma inclined her head politely, taking in the nude form of the fellow compandroid beside her. His face was a masterpiece with incredible bone structure, strong cheekbones and a devastating jawline only serving to draw attention to beautiful sky blue eyes. Undeniably male, the dark hair on his head, stubbled jawline and down his sculpted chest contrasted beautifully with his fair skin. Killian was defined but not overly bulky, and had the physique of an athlete rather than a man who spent hours in the gym. The tech was fully focused on her as August began his assessment, and as he turned, stretched, and bent when prompted, Emma couldn’t help but let her gaze drop to the other masterpiece of his build.

“Are you sure we can’t get them some clothes or something?” the security guard asked as he finished rounding the room and returned to the door. “They aren’t going to be naked all the time once they get to wherever they’re going.” Emma’s gaze snapped up, but he was looking up at the security camera.

“Millionaires pay good money to bang these things,” Jefferson responded. “Don’t kid yourself, Dave, that’s, like, 80% of why anyone buys them.”

David made a vaguely disgusted sound and left the testing room as the tech laughed, putting Emma through the same basic physical tests as her male partner. “They’re both all set,” he announced as he finished, tucking the tablet under his arm. “Go ahead and switch them over to full physical and cognitive auto.” He turned to the Compandroids, smiling broadly. “Alright you two. Go ahead and get acquainted. You’ve been cleared so just do whatever comes naturally and we’ll let you know if we need you to repeat anything or if we need to see anything else at the end of the week.”

August’s voice filled the room. “Mills Mechanics test 342: Killian for U.Z. and Emma for A.P. Cameras are rolling. Security is standing by.”

The technician signaled a thumbs-up to his coworker and jogged for the door, leaving the two androids alone. Tearing his gaze from the female- Emma, he thought, with a surge of warmth- he looked around their simple surroundings, noting that she was doing the same. The room was sparse, arranged to look like a studio apartment and containing simple furnishings as well as a few random items that seemed likely to appeal to specific programming that compandroids were often given. Foregoing the idea of heading towards the tiny kitchen, as neither really needed food to function, his attention snagged on the bed. No, there would be plenty of time for that, he hoped. A woman as beautiful as this deserved to be wooed.

“So,” she began, leaning against the back of a black leather couch and giving him a very distracting view of her lithe body. “Looks like it’s just you and me for a week, so we might as well get started.” She paused a moment before blurting out, “What’s your favorite animal?

He tipped his head back and laughed at the randomness of the question, moving to stand a bit closer as he accessed his memories. “Dogs. You?”

“Swans. You have an English accent. That’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?” She shrugged, nodding in his direction. “Your turn.”

“Alright. Favorite food? Mine is pancakes.”

“Rocky road ice cream,” she announced with a grin. “No question. Alright, favorite song?”

“Vissi d’arte from Tosca.” His brows drew together in slight confusion. “That seems strangely high brow and specific. Apparently I like opera. You?”

“In My Room by The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson is an artist and I won’t tolerate you saying otherwise, Mr. Opera.” She faked offense, but the secret smile she sent him warmed his heart.

Killian’s hands went up in a placating gesture. “Alright, lass, you’ll hear no argument from me.” Looking for inspiration to keep their game going, he moved towards a shelf along the back wall of the room, which contained books in a variety of styles and languages and picked up the first that caught his eye, a collection of poems by Robert Burns, as it turned out. “Hmm, ok, who is your… least favorite author?”

An adorably puzzled look crossed her face as she joined him in perusing the titles, their shoulders mere inches from brushing. “I’m… I’m not sure I have one. I’m certain that I like books, though. Why, do you have a least favorite author?”

She smirked as a blush crept across his cheekbones and tinted his ears pink. “It seems I find Roald Dahl’s works creepy?”

The laugh that bubbled out of her was unintentional. “Isn’t that a children’s author?”

“Aye,” he admitted, slightly put out. “What of it?”

“Nothing at all,” she assured him, making a show of letting her eyes wander over his broad shoulders and down his sculpted torso before landing lower. Biting her lip with a smile, she looked back into his eyes through her lashes. “You just, well, you certainly don’t _look_ like a child.”

He preened a bit, finding that he didn’t mind his embarrassment as much when it could make her smile and clearly didn’t inhibit her attraction to him. “You’re welcome to look your fill darling. I’m designed to be aesthetically pleasing.”

“As am I,” Emma responded, swaying her hips as she gave a little twirl and walked over to the upright piano sitting against the adjacent wall, gently pressing a few keys. “Looks like I know how to play one of these things,” she said with a wry twist of her lips. “You get any hidden talents, Killian?” His blue eyes twinkled as he quirked a suggestive brow in response. “Any musical talents?” She clarified, shaking her head in amusement as he crossed the room as well and pulled out the bench for her, allowing Emma sit and position herself. She casually began to play as she continued to speak. “I don’t think it’s always a standard thing.”

Killian picked up the acoustic guitar leaning alongside the piano, plucking out a quick melody in harmony to the tune she had been playing a moment earlier. “Apparently I play guitar?” He responded, continuing to strum lazily as he exchanged Pachelbel’s canon in D for something new. “Alas my love you do me wrong to cast me off discourteously. For I have loved you so long delighting in your company.”

Without missing a beat, she continued where he left off, piano and voice joining with him as they sang. “Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delight, Greensleeves was my heart of gold, And who but my Lady Greensleeves.” She chuckled then, shaking her head again in disbelief. “Of all the things, they gave us both a folk song?” She watched the faint blush return to his cheeks as he scratched behind his charmingly pink ear.

“Seemed a bit early for something more ambitious like Bizet’s Carmen. I had to improvise. Folk tunes seemed the most likely to be universal.” He smirked mischievously, leaning in slightly to stage whisper, “and it gave me an excuse to sing something romantic to you.”

Emma mirrored his pose, and he fought to keep his eyes on hers and not let them drop to her very kissable mouth or lower to the perfect breasts that remained exposed. “Doesn’t the lady reject her suitor in that song? I’d think you’d pick something with a happier ending if you had an end goal in mind.” He watched her eyes briefly flick down to his lips as she licked her own, and he was rather glad that certain parts of his anatomy were still covered by the wooden body of the guitar.

“Maybe the lovers reconcile in my version,” he whispered.

“I think I’d like that,” she murmured back, slipping from the piano bench to lean over him and place the gentlest kiss to his lips. No longer worried about modesty, he shoved the guitar aside, and she instantly deepened the kiss as he pulled her down into his lap and gave himself over to her. One of his hands wrapped around her back while the other buried itself in her long golden hair, an action that she repeated herself as her fingers scratched along his scalp. Holding herself back, she resisted grinding down onto the hardness she could already feel under her, wanting to simply enjoy the sensation of kissing this amazing male for a moment.

Pausing briefly, he pulled back to admire the female in his arms, letting his thumb trace the gentle curve of her jaw. “You are a bloody marvel, Emma,” he said quietly, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

“And you’re everything, Killian. Everything I could have hoped for.” In spite of the extensive vocabulary she’d been given, Emma found her words failing her and instead tried to convey what she felt with her body, wrapping her arms around his neck and pouring herself into her kisses. They’d barely known each other for an hour, but something about this male just felt right, like he was the other half of a puzzle she hadn’t even realized was missing a piece. From his actions and responses, it seemed clear that he felt the same way, and she wasn’t foolish enough to question their connection when he was busy working kisses down her neck and whispering tender endearments into her skin.

“God above, darling, you’re so beautiful, so brilliant. How are you mine?” He wondered aloud. He wanted her in every way, and something in him ached with a need to show her that the bond they had was, somehow, so much more than physical. Yes, he wanted to fuck her, but a simple coupling of these bodies was only the beginning. He wanted to know everything about her, to make her laugh and smile and share parts of himself that he didn’t even realize were there.

Lifting her into his arms, Killian gently carried her to the bed and laid her upon it, stretching out beside her as they kissed. His gentle reverence didn’t seem to add up, given how quickly they’d gone from strangers to this, but felt right nonetheless. Emma knew, somehow, that giving herself to killian would be an experience that surpassed physical pleasure and became something more. His kisses remained passionate as one of his warm, rough hands moved down her back to her hip, maintaining contact but staying a respectful distance from any of her more intimate areas. She could feel the coiled tension in his shoulders, in the way his fingers tightened but didn’t dare move inwards to where her impeccably designed body was wet and ready for him. Breaking their kiss, Emma stared deep into his eyes as she gently removed his hand from its perch on her side, smiling inwardly when his look of disappointment morphed into pure arousal when she moved it between her legs and rubbed herself against his fingers.

Bloody hell, she was so wet and warm, his cock automatically responding to her clear desire. Unlike humans, Compandroids’ bodies were capable of instantaneous arousal and infinite orgasms, but he didn’t want to rush this experience. They’d have all week to fuck each other into oblivion, but Killian had an intense and undeniable need to make love to Emma properly the first time he had her. Pressing a last searing kiss to her swollen, berry-pink lips, he inched lower on the bed to let his mouth join his fingers’ exploration, letting the heavenly music of her gasps and sighs ring out in the room.

————  
David watched the two carefully from his seat in the observation room, as required by his position. Plenty of his coworkers seemed to have a strange fascination with sexual encounters between Compandroids, but part of why he’d been selected as head of lab security was because, most of the time, he just didn’t see the appeal. If he were honest with himself, he’d always found watching to be slightly uncomfortable, but this couple seemed different somehow. Paired Compandroids usually ended up in bed together eventually, but he’d never seen them connect this quickly or this passionately. It was far more like watching reunited lovers than two robots who’d never come into contact before today. The bond between these two seemed disturbingly real.

He’d always wondered about the morality of what they were doing; synthetic or not, there was something unsettling about creating beings that were little more than glorified slaves for the wealthy. The company justified it with data that showed human sex trafficking had decreased with the creation of Compandriods, and the base models were little more than elaborate sex dolls. Of course, the high end models like the two being tested today were another story entirely, programmed to have the full spectrum of human emotion but unable to act against their owner’s wishes.

Until this moment, though, it had never been more than a passing thought that crept into his mind when they shipped out a new custom-built deluxe model. He’d never witnessed anything that confirmed his suspicions in his five years managing the security for newly ordered Compandroids. He’d never seen one scared or angry or even truly delighted, and any doubts had been erased by the fact that his Mills Mechanics salary had allowed him to afford the perfect ring for his (hopefully) soon to be fiancé. Watching them stare into each other’s eyes with all too convincing passion, David began to worry that he’d been right to question their work all along.

————  
If this was what orgasms felt like, well, Emma wondered how humans got anything done. Her entire body arched off the bed as she came again, a giddy laugh escaping her lips when she met Killian’s lust-addled gaze. If his mouth felt this good, she could only begin to imagine how actual sex would feel.

God, she needed more of him _now_.

He crawled up her body, lips meeting hers in a deep, desperate kiss as he settled between her thighs. “Fuck, Emma. You’re so god damn beautiful. I want you with every fiber of my being,” he confessed, his hard length adding further emphasis to his words.

“But, I have to reciprocate first!” She argued, her excuse cut off by another sloppy kiss.

“Next time,” Killian promised, the look in his intense blue eyes promising a week of endless carnal pleasures. “I just, I really don’t want to wait to be inside you, love. If you don’t have any objections, that is.”

Wrapping her legs around his slim hips, she pulled him into the cradle of her body, feeling him respond to her enthusiastic cue as he let himself sink in inch by delicious inch until he was fully sheathed inside her, little pants escaping his lips as he shuddered. “Bloody hell,” he gasped, struggling to find his voice. “Fuck, Emma, you feel so good around me. Better than I’d even thought possible.”

She couldn’t disagree, the pleasure of joining with Killian so much more intense than she had been prepared for. He thrust experimentally, and they both shivered, nearly overwhelmed by the intensity. “More,” she begged, peppering him with frantic kisses anywhere she could reach. “God, please, Killian, make love to me.”

Their eyes met again, her words registering for a moment as he smiled almost boyishly, and then his mouth was on hers and he was gone, they were gone, utterly lost in the pleasures of each other.

————  
They spent their first days alternating between random discussions and more intimate activities, exploring each other in every possible way. Although there were obvious differences in their programming, everything about them seemed strangely synchronized, and as the days passed, Emma found herself wondering if Killian could be any more perfect. He had his flaws of course, like his distaste for onion rings, but even those were charming in their own way. What surprised her even more was that he seemed to feel the same, and though he would shake his head at the sometimes unusual preferences she had been given, he still claimed to quite fancy her.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t feel the same way.

On their third day, Killian spent hours reading to her from his favorite books, always making sure to find the most romantic lines to quote. She rolled her eyes every now and then, but the rosy blush on her cheeks was more than enough encouragement to continue. As they lounged on the bed, Emma curled into his side as they snuggled under the blankets, he honestly wondered if there could be any place in the world better than right where he was. What surprised him most was how little that thought seemed out of place, given what little time they’d had together.

As he made his way through Wuthering Heights, he came upon the line “whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” The truth of that, the sentiment behind it, echoed through him as he gazed down at the beauty in his arms.

“I’ll never read this without thinking of you. I don’t know how or why,” he admitted, “but from the moment I first saw you, I have been utterly enchanted. It’s as if we were meant for each other.”

“I bet you say that to all the artificial girls,” she deflected, averting her eyes. “I know what you mean though. I felt the same way. It was like someone turned on a light. Suddenly you were there and everything changed.”

“I don’t think this is programmed Emma.” He said, tracing the curve of her cheek with his thumb. “I think it’s just us. There’s something special between you and me, beyond just following through on the mandate to interact.”

“We understand each other,” she agreed, snuggling deeper into his side. “Even if you were given horrible taste in movies.”

He snorted, digging his fingers into her ribs until she giggled. “You only know my taste is horrible because you were given incredibly pretentious taste, lass. Neither one of us has actually seen a single film, so pardon me if I don’t take your criticism all that seriously.” A gentle kiss to the crown of her head, he returned to the book and it’s ill-fated lovers.

Another few days, and Killian knew beyond any doubt that what he felt for Emma was love. it was an all consuming thought: he loved her without restraint, loved everything about her. A lifetime with her was all that he wanted for himself, and as the harsh reality of their limited time together began to close in, he started to plot ways they might escape their seemingly inevitable fate. It had obviously been wearing on her as well, if her desperate kisses and the way she held him as they made love were any indication of her feelings. Still, even if their time together was limited, she deserved to know how much he cared, and in the still, silent darkness of the night he confessed in a whisper.

“I love you, Emma.”

He heard her shaky intake of breath as she clung to him, and her whispered “and I love you. I’ve known it for days. Killian, what are we going to do? I don’t want to lose you and we only get a week,” she continued, vocalizing many of the dark thoughts that had tormented him as well. “How is that fair?”

“It’s not.” He smoothed her hair back with a gentle caress, looking into her eyes as he placed the softest kiss to her lips. “Nothing about this is fair, and yet I wouldn’t trade knowing you for the world. Our time together and what you’ve brought into my life has been a gift I never expected to receive. We may only have two days left together, but I will never stop loving you.”

“We should run. Go somewhere they’ll never find us and just live our lives together.” A sob broke her last word, and he wiped away the traitorous tear that ran down her cheek before it could drip onto the bedding.

“We should,” he agreed. “Any ideas?”

The subtle hum of the cameras continued as they talked well into the night.

————  
After six days of watching Emma and Killian, David knew there was something different about them. Their connection was unlike any he’d seen in his 5 years of monitoring these trial weeks, which is why he was only slightly surprised when August came in, visibly flustered and annoyed, and whispered that David should call in some backup. The research team had been reviewing the previous night’s recordings, and had seen interactions between the couple that were far outside what was dictated by their programming, noting that the frequency had only escalated as the days passed. Mills had demanded they end the test early and separate them under the pretense of wanting to check a few settings, before things got any worse.

David’s stomach lurched as he called out on his walkie for aid and prepared to enter the room.

————  
Emma woke to the sound of Jefferson entering the test room, and smiled politely at the tech through her momentary confusion. He gave her an overly bright smile before announcing, “Just here to check a few settings. Sorry to bother you, but it’ll only take a minute. Could you two get up and move apart? We think your sensors are interfering with each other or something cause I haven’t been getting a good reading the last few days.”

Killian ran a hand through his dark hair, rising and following the technician to a location marked with a small X on the wall opposite the door. “Great, thanks Killian,” he said, a slight tremor in his voice. “I’m just gonna hook you up and we’ll see what’s going on.” The cold metal of a containment cuff snapped around Killian’s left wrist, and he was about to make a filthy joke about it when he saw the door open and a team of security guards entered alongside several other men and women in lab coats. His eyes snapped to Emma, who was being escorted from the bed and towards the door, rather than to the containment cuff attached to the adjoining wall. The horrible realization hit as fear sluiced down his spine, stealing every thought but one as Emma stiffened and turned toward him, panic in her gorgeous green eyes.

“What are you do… NO!” She screamed, turning towards the far wall to see Killian had come to the same conclusion. “Killian! They’re taking me away!” She fought against the security guards who had grabbed her, unable to injure them thanks to her programming but trying instead to slip free of their grasps. Thrashing wildly, Emma turned with tears in her eyes to Jefferson as he immediately backed away from Killian. “You promised us a week! We still have another day! Please!”

“Emma!” Killian bellowed, pulling against his restraint. “Get your hands off of her!” She would be dragged from the room and out of his life without so much as a chance to say goodbye or tell her what she meant to him. There was no way for her to break free without causing damage to one of the humans, but he realized with sudden clarity that all that lay between him and Emma was the band of steel around his left wrist. It was a surprisingly easy decision. Reaching down with his free hand, Killian brutally snapped his forearm in two, tearing through the layers of synthetic tissue until he was free. He crossed the room in mere seconds, grabbing her face in his remaining hand and kissing her one last time as the entire room froze in shock. “I’d rather have 6 days with you than live without knowing you, Emma, and no matter what they do to me, I know a part of me will never forget you. I love you.”

The blonde security officer holding her right arm adjusted his grip to her shoulder, allowing her to wrap her arm around Killian and hold him close. She could taste tears on her lips, and his, as she whispered, “I love you too, and we will meet again, somehow, someday. I will find you.”

Cora Mills burst into the room, heels clacking as she screamed, “What the hell is wrong with all of you? Put him down and get her out of here.”

Emma fought as another guard brutally wrenched her away, watching in horror as an additional security officer moved in and hit Killian with a jolt from a restraining rod that instantly took him offline. “Nooooo!” Emma screamed, feeling like she was being ripped in two as they dragged her out the door. “Killian!”

————  
There were days that David really hated his job, and this was one of them. He flinched as his harpy of a boss screeched out her orders, redoubling his efforts to subdue the inhumanly strong female in his arms as she clawed towards the male lying motionless across the room.

An elbow to his gut swiftly brought his musings to an end, and as he focused again on the tear stained face of the beautiful model in his arms, who continued to cry out in tones laced with despair and desperation, he decided a transfer would be the next paperwork he filed. Working in the loading docks would be less glamorous, but watching the male literally disconnect an arm in his effort to reach the sobbing female was a sight he never wanted to experience again. He suddenly felt a deep sense of regret, and knew the whiskey bottle would be calling his name tonight.

They were robots, he knew, but even so, he couldn’t help but wonder- did you really need a soul to have a soulmate?

————

David sat in the control room an hour later, the bone-deep exhaustion that followed a surge of adrenaline pulling at him as he monitored the post incident huddle. The cup of coffee in his hands had gone cold, but gave him a distraction from the tense argument in the room between the business end of the company and the brilliant product developers responsible for making their products function.

“What do you want me to say?” August asked, his usually calm demeanor laced with frustration. “I ran all the usual diagnostics per protocol before I started. They’re considered compatible.”

“Compatible?” Cora Mills keyed up the details of the analysis on her tablet, stabbing at the compatibility rating with one of her crimson-lacquered nails as she showed the room the results. “Compatible doesn’t even begin to cover it. The only way they’d score higher would be if you paired two of the same damn model, which, may I remind you, could never happen with our deluxe models because we only make one of each!”

David studied the screen, where 99.999% flashed in bold red; despite the staggering differences in their programming, the two Compandroids were a perfect match on every level.

Mills placed her hand against her forehead, briefly composing herself before returning to the issue at hand. “We will deal with the aftermath of this later. In the meantime, you need to get those two finished and prepped for shipment. Wipe their memories, twice if needed, to erase every trace of this, and reload their programming from scratch.

“But Ms. Mills!” interjected one of the designers, who looked almost giddy in contrast to the rest of the room. “This is something completely unheard of. They were developing new behaviors and emotions we can’t even begin to code yet and bypassed key elements of their programming to get back together. Surely we can take a few extra days to study what happened. It may be breakthrough. Imagine! Androids with real, independent consciousness!”

“This isn’t a senior research project, Dr. Whale, it’s a business,” she snapped. “We’re here to sell people their perfect companions- which are _things_ , in spite of how they outwardly appear. Other people can disappoint you, but part of the beauty of our creations is that they don’t have that capacity. We give them the illusion of free will of course, to make them more authentic, but that is it. Why would we even want to incur the risk of anything more? Now, everyone, fix it!” She turned to leave in a swirl of barely contained rage, calling over her shoulder as she left the room, "And for god’s sake check the numbers a little more carefully next time. I won’t have a repeat of this incident.”

  
————

Emma blinked rapidly in the bright light of a sterile exam room. It was so cold in here, and she didn’t recognize the faces of any of the people around her. Where was she? Where was… “Killian!” She felt panic grip her as she scanned the room again. “Where is he? Is he ok? Please, tell me he’s alright!”

“Shit,” one of the men with a lab coat cursed. “That didn’t work at all. Ok two memory wipes isn’t enough for her either. How about him? Does he still remember?”

Another man spoke, and she recognized him as August, the engineer she’d heard over the loudspeaker. “He’s better after two. He can’t remember her name but he definitely remembers a beautiful blonde. He’s not sure if she’s some kind of dream girl he conjured up or a past romance. I guess it’s an improvement. I think we better wipe them all one more time just to be sure. Three times for each should do it. God only knows what kind of trouble it’ll start if they mention each other or, hell, go off searching for one another.”

Emma just stared at the room, panic gripping her like a vice until one of the engineers came over with a tablet, sitting in front of her. “Emma, dear, calm down. Killian is ok. He’s just in another room.” He showed her a video feed from a similar room, where Killian lay on a table, his arm reattached and looking so handsome and perfect that she wanted to cry. The man watched her reaction, eyes jumping from her to the screen and back again as he mumbled, “I still think erasing your memories is a mistake. You two are the biggest breakthrough in AI that we’ve ever seen.”

“No, please, don't” she pleaded. “I love him. Let me just see him. I have to know he’s ok.” She rose, pushing the men out of the way as she ran for the door. If she could just find him, maybe they could escape after all. Maybe she could make him remember her.

“God damn it, Victor! Not again!” August yelled, and then everything went dark.

————

The next time Emma opened her eyes, the face staring into hers was strangely familiar. “Arthur?” She questioned, confirming that the handsome middle aged man in front of her was indeed the man she had been designed for.

His answering smile confirmed her assessment, though a touch of sadness infused everything about him. She knew everything about this man, and though she didn’t truly know him yet, she hoped that she could make him happy. Arthur Penn, founder of the Pendragon Tech company, had come into wealth and success early in his life when his inventions had revolutionized computers and technology, making him a household name. He and his equally photogenic wife had been staples in both business and politics, championing causes and companies they believed in while raising their family. Nobody could have predicted her sudden death at only 55, or his immediate retirement and retreat from the public eye that followed; his son had successfully taken over the company in his absence, though Emma knew the two rarely spoke.

He ushered her out of the large wooden crate she’d arrived in and into his cozy living room, sitting beside her on the couch as he stared into her jade green eyes in the low firelight. “I’d hoped they could make me a companion who would remind me of the good old days, someone like Grace Kelly, but you, Emma, are far more than I’d ever hoped for.” He reached a tentative hand towards her, hesitating before turning her chin this way and that, admiring the craftsmanship that went into Mills Mechanics finest products. “I have been alone for nearly a year, and I'm… I’m not ready for what lies outside my door, not yet. But I hope that, perhaps, spending my days with you might help me.” He closed his eyes, brow furrowing as he struggled to contain his emotions, and she leaned over to place a tender kiss to his cheek. His soft, shaky sigh in response let her know that her programming had indeed prepared her for a life with this broken, brilliant man.

The weeks passed easily, and their early steps towards familiarity quickly led to a relationship based on a shared love of art, technology, and literature as she filled his lonely days with conversation and companionship. It was a gentle affection, rather than passion and romance, but it was genuine and most days she contented herself with knowing that she made Arthur’s life immeasurably better. They were more akin to friends or perhaps even a father and daughter for the first two months, until the day that he leaned over and brushed a kiss to her lips at the end of Gone with the Wind. She could see in his eyes what he needed from her, and let him lead her to his elegant bedroom for a gentle coupling that was in truth closer to making love than anything else, though he would never call it that. It was a shared moment, a renewing of their bond, something she couldn’t describe as exhilarating or passionate, but rather two friends giving each other comfort and pleasure. He’d already had the great love of his life, and while he undoubtedly enjoyed his days with Emma and cared for her, she would never replace his dear departed Gwen.

  
That night, while Arthur slept peacefully beside her, Emma dreamed. She dreamt of eyes bluer than the clearest sky and love deep as the ocean, passionate and unrestrained. She dreamt of his hands on her skin, of his mouth, of their bodies joined as he made love to her and moaned her name long and dirty into her ear. Waking with a start, Emma could only assume it was her prior activity that had conjured up such odd images and sensations, as she had no memories to speak of before Arthur. Perhaps someone had made an error in her programming, she thought, though she wasn’t sure if she hoped she could forget the dream or if she wanted to treasure it.

She dreamt of this unnamed, beautiful, passionate man every time she and Arthur were intimate, usually every week or two, but otherwise lived happily with him. After nine months, he took her on their first trip outside his sprawling estate, having his driver drop them off at a small bookstore in the nearby town for an hour while he browsed the shelves. It was a simple, unhurried outing, but a massive step for a man who had sequestered himself away out of grief. A week later, they had a late lunch at a small cafe, and a few days later went into the city to hear Juilliard students perform. With each passing week, she watched Arthur find himself bit by bit, the culmination of which was a final, face to face meeting with his son Martin about a year after Emma’s arrival. Martin was surprised and, it seemed, a bit disturbed to discover his father had bought himself a Compandroid, not understanding why he had refused the comfort of another human.

“Marty, I wasn’t in any shape to be out there after your mom passed,” Arthur explained, taking his son’s hand across the oak kitchen table where they’d settled. “She was my inspiration from the beginning, and I didn’t know how to go on without her. You were grieving and I’d just dumped the whole company in your lap- I couldn’t burden you. I didn’t want to exploit some poor woman just to have my emotional and physical needs met, and Emma here has helped me to find joy again without me having to worry if I’m hurting her or leading her on. I’m not looking to date again. I just… I mostly just wanted a friend.”

The explanation, it turned out, was enough, and Arthur began calling his son regularly, asking about his grandchildren and making plans to visit them in San Francisco. He brought Emma on the first trip, explaining her away as his new assistant, but began leaving the house alone more and more, eventually going as far as making a second and third visit to California without her. By two years into her time with him, Emma could see the end coming even before Arthur did, and couldn’t be sad when he finally decided to sell the mansion, return her to Mills Mechanics, and move to live near his son and his family. He apologized to her, genuinely regretful, but he admitted that he would only use her as a crutch if he brought her along, and he felt it was time for a new beginning. She smiled at him through the burning in her eyes as they joined together one last time, and wished him every happiness when she kissed his cheek and boarded the transport truck for her return to the factory.

————

“Holy shit, are you kidding me?!?”

Bright light and a shriek of delight met Killian when his crate was opened, finally providing some context for the muffled sounds of revelry that had filtered through to his auditory processors for the last hour. “Happy Birthday, Sweetheart,” came a man’s deep voice to his left. “I know you were upset when your mom and I said no dating while you’re at Julliard, but…”

“No way! You got me a Compandroid so I can focus on my singing but still kind of have a boyfriend.” Her dark eyes sparkled as she assessed him, her smile growing. “Oh my god he is SO hot.”

Sensing his cue, Killian rose from the crate’s built in chair and stepped forward, lifting the girl’s hand to his lips and brushing a kiss to her knuckles. “It’s lovely to meet you, Sula.”

“He has an accent!” She squealed, bouncing slightly in excitement. “Can I please take him back out to the party? I really want to show the girls!”

“Of course honey,” her mother cooed, mirroring her daughter’s wide smile. “Happy 18th Birthday.” Her mom and dad wrapped their arms around her, which she returned enthusiastically before grabbing Killian’s hand and yanking him towards a set of doors that ended up leading into a nightclub that was lavishly decorated for the girl’s birthday in golds and purples.

“So wait, do I have to, like, name you?” She asked, turning wide eyes towards him as they maneuvered through the crowd.

“You certainly can if you’d like, though I go by Killian at the moment, lass.”

“Killian? Nope, not gonna change that. It’s perfect.” She looked around, watching her classmates’ jaws drop as they took in the handsome man on her arm. “Shit, actually, _you’re_ perfect.” A faint blush colored her cheeks as she leaned closer to him, whispering, “Oh my god, can I have sex with you?”

He smirked slightly at her excitement and raised a mischievous brow. “Well, I wouldn’t recommend doing so here, darling, but yes, and I’d be happy to give you a very thorough demonstration of all of my many, many talents later.” She squirmed a bit, her blush deepening. “I’m fairly confident that after a night with me, these mere boys will no longer be even a momentary temptation. Now, unless you’d like to find us somewhere private right this moment, why don’t we continue on to your friends?”

Sula’s parents had rented her an apartment just a few blocks from the school. Not wanting to flaunt her family’s wealth any more than necessary, she’d let everyone assume Killian was just her live in boyfriend. While Sula studied to be the world’s next great operatic soprano, he’d cook and clean and otherwise maintain the place for her during the day, then listen to her practice and provide her with whatever pleasure she desired once she arrived home. His devotion to her wasn’t exactly based on love; she liked him well enough, but he knew full well that she thought of him as more of a pet than a person. Still, she was so focused on achieving her goal that his presence served its purpose. Compared to his dashing good looks, manners, and undeniable prowess in bed, the other boys in her classes didn’t stand a chance.

Ursula Zeddmore could be described in many ways, including beautiful, driven, wealthy, and well-educated. Killian adored everything about the vivacious young woman. Her voice, however, was beyond words. Even before she’d begun studying with some of the finest teachers in the world, her talent had been obvious, but the months of training had enhanced and matured the classical soprano’s sound until hearing her sing could honestly be described as life changing, and indeed, sometimes was. Killian would tidy up the kitchen as she practiced each night, and would find himself humming whatever lovely piece she’d been practicing well into the next day, though the song always somehow morphed into Greensleeves by noon. He figured it was a minor flaw in his programming, but he had a fondness for the tune and was strangely comforted every time the old folk melody floated into his head.

It was less than a year into her education that Sula met Antonio at one of her recitals. An unimposing man in his mid 30’s, he’d approached the soprano afterwards, introducing himself to both her and Killian and complimenting her on her absolutely breathtaking rendition of Sempre Libera before asking if she might be interested in working with him. She’d politely declined, but accepted his card and stopped him when he made to walk away, waving her phone as she pointed to the browser’s google results. “You’re Antonio Sforza? The composer? I saw your Elizabeth I at the Met just last year!!” Clearly smitten with her, he’d brushed off her earlier dismissal with a laugh, and they’d immediately made plans to meet the following week to work on his newest opera, a modern retelling of the story of Cleopatra.

Killian could provide her with almost everything a young woman could want, but even he couldn’t stop the two musical virtuosos from falling in love. Within weeks, the composer had left his wife and declared the beautiful girl his muse, writing his opera to showcase her remarkable voice. Sworn to secrecy, Killian continued to live alone in the apartment until she finally broke the news to her parents a few months later, explaining that what she had with “Tony” was real, and that she’d continue her studies but would be marrying the brilliant, famous composer as soon as his divorce was finalized. Sula’s parents remained skeptical but agreed to send Killian back to Mills Mechanics at their daughter’s insistence. Though he knew the whirlwind love affair was likely doomed, a small part of Killian admired and envied the two. His attachment to Sula Zeddmore was removed as he was collected for transport, and he spent the ride back to the factory imagining his own passionate love affair with a breathtakingly beautiful blonde, set to the tune of Greensleeves.

————

Neal Cassidy was a professional gambler who was used to both wealth and all the trappings that came with it, and what better way to flaunt his fortune than with his very own custom-refurbished Compandroid. “Damn,” he’d breathed, scanning every inch of her before his gaze met hers. “You really are perfect. You even have green eyes just like I wanted.” She’d been programmed to love him, of course, just as all of her kind were, and to do whatever he asked of her without question. After all, “Your Perfect Companion” was what Mills Mechanics boasted, and Emma felt a rush of pride at his satisfied assessment.

The first year passed happily, and at the time, Emma had been thankful that the engineers and programming geniuses who’d designed her had found a way to give her emotions, as she felt overjoyed to belong to the charismatic man by her side. He would flirt with other women, but she didn’t worry because she knew it would be difficult to replace her. After all, she was perfect.

  
Neal had never been shy about parading around his “custom-made girlfriend,” going as far as to take her to fancy parties as his date. Many of his poker buddies envied him, always wanting more information about what she was like. Was she really everything the company claimed? He’d never held back, answering all their questions readily as he boasted that she was far better than any “real” woman he’d had.

Most of the time, Emma honestly didn’t mind that his feelings towards her didn’t include love, but every so often she would get a strange, secret feeling that she couldn’t describe, like there was something missing from her life. At first, she’d thought it was a desire to be loved by Neal, but as the months passed she knew that wasn’t it; whatever she was looking for, it was something that even Neal couldn’t provide. In an odd way, it sometimes seemed like even her habit of rereading romantic classics like Wuthering Heights was related, and it felt a bit cruel to her that she’d be programmed to feel so empty in the absence of love. Still, whatever it was that caused the emptiness in her, it was irrelevant, and she tried to ignore it and enjoy her life with Neal, which continued to be a whirlwind of excitement, until his luck ran out.

At first, he sold off the things he didn’t truly need: the Maserati, the penthouse in Miami, the expensive watches he never wore. Though she was one of his most valuable possessions, Emma tried not to fear she would be next. She was far too precious to him, he’d said, and he’d never sell her.

It was only when the unpaid bills continued to mount that she learned he wasn’t as attached to her as he seemed. Eager to avoid prosecution, he drove off early one morning with the majority of his remaining wealth and never returned, leaving her alone in the empty house until she was repossessed four months later by Mills Mechanics to be refurbished, have her memory wiped again, and to be sold off to a new owner. She didn’t want to go, but of course, those emotions were overruled by her programming; Emma found herself wishing for the first time that she’d never been given emotions at all.

The driver who arrived to bring her back to the factory seemed gruff, but there was a hidden tenderness in him. “Easy, sister,” he murmured gently as he surveyed her empty living quarters with disgust and barely hidden anger. “I’m Leroy, and I’m here to take you out of here.” Wrapping a blanket over her shoulders to cover the silk negligee she was still wearing, he escorted Emma from the dismal apartment to a simple cushioned seat in the back of the transport truck. With the quick input of a few codes, she was free of the tether to an owner and wept quietly as they pulled away towards their next stop, denied even a simple goodbye from the man who had once owned not only her body but her heart.

————

Killian had been purchased next by a middle-aged divorcee. She’d wanted a handsome young stud to travel the world with, and a Compandriod had been the perfect solution- a man who would love her unconditionally, and not care a bit about the substantial fortune she’d received when her insanely successful husband had divorced her for a younger woman. Killian didn’t care about the fine lines that had begun to form on her face or that her body wasn’t as tight as it had been before having a child. He didn’t find her independence intimidating or her occasional temper unattractive. He was programmed to love her, and from the moment he laid eyes on Milah Gold, that is exactly what he did. Milah never told a soul that he wasn’t “real”, introducing him as her charming new boyfriend and treating him like a human man nearly all of the time.

Sometimes, Killian wondered if he would have loved Milah even if he hadn’t been programmed to do so. She was so full of life, so determined to make every moment count. She’d take him shopping and dress him in the latest fashions, always making sure to show off his well-constructed physique and smirking at all the customer service attendants who eyed her with blatant envy when he pulled her close and kissed her breathless. He would pleasure her in bed for hours, reveling in every gasp and moan as she told him how amazing he felt, how perfect he was, and how much she loved him back.

It was so easy to forgot that he was merely a Compandroid when he was with Milah, and even his basic programming seemed to respond to the way she treated him, giving him new human characteristics. The dreams were the most obvious and troubling. At first, he found himself having the occasional sexual fantasy about a gorgeous blonde woman who was very clearly not Milah, waking hard and aroused. Soon after those started, he had nightmares as well, dreaming of this same blonde being pulled from his arms and crying out to him in despair. He hid the nature of the dreams, unsure as to why this strange beauty would be in his head when he already had someone as amazing as Milah in his life, but tried not to dwell on them too much. After all, this fantasy woman may have looked like some random actress from a classic movie, but she wasn’t real. Milah was a woman, flesh and blood.

It all ended so quickly that it was still hard for him to understand. They’d returned from a week in Bali, and Milah’s bright laugh echoed off the polished marble floor as she pulled him into their apartment, her skin tanned and still smelling of the coconut sunscreen she wore as she kissed him. Their homecoming was interrupted by a cough, and they turned to find her ex-husband standing at the top of the staircase, casually perusing the Comapandriod paperwork that had come when Killian had originally been delivered a few years before. “So, this is what you’re into nowadays, Milah?” he scoffed, tossing the binder over his shoulder. “You always were a bit heartless- makes sense that you’d want a man without one as well.”

“Get the hell out of here, you bastard!” she’d yelled, launching herself towards him as Killian followed cautiously. “This isn’t your home anymore. Go back to your pretty little wife, and leave us alone.”

“Us?” he’d laughed, a sneer on his face. “You mean you and the glorified sex toy? Don’t tell me you’re delusional enough to love this… thing!“ He’d pushed Killian out of the way, and damn his programming, but it wouldn’t allow him to harm a human- even one as vile as the man before him. “Jesus, Milah, what other ridiculous shit have you been up to?”

Milah left Killian at the top of the steps and followed, stopping in front of her ex-husband and yanking on his arm as he turned away dismissively. “Get out of my house, Richard, or I’m going to call the fucking cops.”

“Call the cops on me, in the house I bought you?” He yelled, spinning to face her as he threw his arms wide in agitation. The movement caught her off balance, and she stumbled backwards, losing her footing and tumbling down the stairs. “No! Milah!” Richard cried, reaching out in desperation as Killian rushed past him in an effort to catch her before she hit the bottom. The sickening crack of her head hitting the marble floor echoed in the room as both men dropped to the ground by her side. “Call 911, you idiot!” Gold bellowed, tears in his eyes as he checked for a pulse that Killian knew full well wasn’t there. He’d known the precise moment her neck had snapped, and the woman he’d known and loved had been lost forever.

  
The police and ambulance had arrived quickly, along with a computer tech who accessed Killian’s recorded memories and confirmed Richard Gold’s story. It had been a horrible accident, they’d all agreed, clearing Killian for his transport back to Mills Mechanics for holding and eventual refurbishment. As he waited for the truck to arrive, he sat and wondered what the use of having inhuman strength or reflexes was when he couldn’t even save the woman he loved?

————

“It’s you.” Killian had spent years of dreaming of a beautiful, nameless woman, and here she was, not a woman at all but a compandroid like him. She was like sunshine breaking through the clouds. That was all that he could think when he was ushered into the Mills Mechanics truck with her, and despite all of the pain he was feeling, the loss of Milah and the knowledge that he would have all of his beautiful memories of his time with her wiped and would be shipped off to another buyer, he couldn’t stop staring. He knew that Compandriods were supposed to be perfect, but he’d never actually seen another one before, and her beauty was staggering. He watched her eyes raise, and saw the same fascination mirrored in her leaf green gaze. She was just as lost as he was, without an owner and about to be reconditioned and yet she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

  
Emma stared at him, at his dark hair and exquisite features, but her gaze landed on his sky blue eyes as something in her cried out in recognition. “I…I know you. I don’t know how, but it almost feels like I’ve always known you.”

“I dreamt of you, lass. For years, over and over. How can you be real?”

Emma sighed deeply, a habit that she’d picked up and did despite not really needing to breathe. She hadn’t felt attraction like this in so long, and of course it would happen now, as she was about to lose everything that made her _her_. Whatever had happened to him, she supposed he was headed for the same fate, and she could tell from his resigned demeanor that he’d probably lost just as much as she had. Why had the designers given them emotions, she wondered aloud, if it would only lead to pain?

“I don’t think they worried about our well being,” she heard him answer, the sadness in his soft lilting accent catching her off guard. “After all, we’re not really people, are we?” His sparkling eyes met hers, a sad half-smile tilting the corner of his mouth. “I’m Killian. or at least, I will be for a few more hours. After that…” he trailed off, a slight shrug acknowledging their inevitable fate.

“Emma. At least, that’s what he called me.” She looked over him again, appreciating the care that obviously went into the creation of each Compandriod. “What was it like, where you were?“

He sighed quietly, dropping his eyes to the ground and chuckling humorlessly before answering. “It was good. I almost forgot that I wasn’t human.” His gaze roamed her face briefly before he asked her the same question.

“Oh, I knew exactly what I was every minute of every day. Which was fine until…” she trailed off, suddenly feeling shame and briefly annoyed that the programmers had decided to include that pesky emotion, before shrugging it off and continuing. “Honestly, it was kind of a relief when they came to get me. It may not last long, but at least I can belong to nobody but me for a few hours. Maybe next time I’ll be enough.”

“Don’t say that, love. You may have belonged to someone who didn’t appreciate you, but the flaw was with him, not you.”

“How do you know that?” She asked, regarding him cautiously. “Are you sure we’ve never met?”

“I’d remember meeting you.” He looked at her again, marveling at how familiar she was in spite of the fact that he was absolutely certain that he’d never seen her before. “But there is something between us. Do you feel it?

“The pull? Like you can’t help but want to know more about them and at the same time it’s like you’ve known each other forever.” He watched her lick her lips and blush, and couldn’t help but follow the lovely pink flush that colored her cheeks and continued down to her barely covered chest. “And then there’s the other part. Like my body knows you too.”

“Does it always happen when two of us get close? I’ve never felt this before.”

“I don’t think so,” she responded, accessing her memories. “I met another Compandriod once, on a gambling trip to Monte Carlo, and felt nothing whatsoever. Maybe it’s because we’re not tethered to an owner. I don’t know what this is, but I don’t think it’s something they designed, at least, not consciously.”

“I don’t care why it’s there,” he breathed, reaching out to tuck a bit of her golden hair behind her ear. “It’s as if…” he trailed off, and seemed to be searching for a thought, his eyes snapping to hers as he clearly found it. “Whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same.”

She shuddered, her body seeming to recognize the quote just before her mind did. Not pausing to question her decision, she grabbed the lapels of the designer leather jacket he wore, crashing her lips against his in a display of unbridled passion unlike any he’d ever seen. His hand tangled in her hair as he returned the kiss, something electric coursing through him as they lost themselves in each other. She abruptly leaned back, pulling the thin silk nightdress over her head and revealing every detail of her perfectly crafted form to his gaze. His cock twitched to life instantly, his programming responding to her unabashed desire as he surged forward to capture her lips again, rutting against her as she slid the jacket from his shoulders and deftly unbuckled his belt.

They may be destined to forget these lives, but she would live every moment she had left to the fullest, and right now, she wanted to be with Killian far more than she’d wanted Neal, or any other man she could have been compelled to desire. As she finally freed his cock, she couldn’t help the involuntary moan that slipped past her lips at his size. Just like the rest of him, his cock was absolutely perfect. She had been built to be tight, and could be stimulated by nearly any man as a result, but she could only begin to imagine the pleasure she’d feel from what she saw before her. She dropped to her knees as he continued to shuck his clothes, closing her lips around his length and sucking with all her strength, knowing that his body could take it more than an average human’s; she felt a fresh rush of lubrication between her legs when he quietly cursed.

“Fuck, Emma. That’s- I’ve never felt anything like it. God, love, please don’t stop.”

She continued to suck him with inhuman precision, her soft tongue caressing him as she took every inch deep into her throat. Milah had enjoyed sucking his cock, but it had been nothing like this. He thanked his designers for giving him incredible stamina, and honestly pitied human men for a moment, knowing they’d never be able to truly experience all the pleasure she could produce. Still, the compulsion to give in return remained, and he enjoyed the blowjob until he felt the sensations just beginning to become overwhelming, then stopped her, lifting her into his arms and above his shoulders, nesting his face into her perfect little cunt. Everything about her had been designed to be flawless, it no exception, sculpted beautifully and smelling absolutely delicious. When his tongue swiped through the artificial lubricant she produced, the exquisite taste was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, and he couldn’t stop himself from laying her gently on a pile of their discarded clothes and practically devouring her.

They had clearly programmed him to be amazing at oral sex, and every teasing movement of his lips and tongue was done with such skill that she worried her circuits might overload from the pleasure. “Please,” she begged him, arching her back as another orgasm washed over her. “I need to feel you inside me.” He kissed his way across her belly, over her beautiful breasts and up her neck until he was hovering over her, the tip sliding over her entrance teasingly as their lips met.

“I want you.” he whispered, his eyes dropping to where their bodies were nearly joined. “Fuck, Emma, I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

She arched against him, letting the tip slip just slightly into her, and it was the affirmation he needed, his hips thrusting forward to work his cock into her. Another curse escaped his lips as she moaned in pleasure at the feeling of his girth stretching her. “You’re- bloody buggering hell- you’re so tight.” He worked his cock deeper, the hot, wet walls of her perfectly designed sheath squeezing every inch as he held himself above her. “God, I could die a happy man with your cunt around me.” His breath came in pants against her neck as pleasure coursed through her. “Let me fuck you, lass. Please tell me I can move.”

“Killian,” she moaned, wrapping her legs around his hips. “Please.” He pulled out and slammed back into her, suddenly feeling a sensation unlike anything he’d ever experienced. His eyes snapped to hers, seeing the shock and delight there mirroring his own. Their pleasure circuits were coming into contact with each thrust, doubling the sensation for each of them and causing the whole world to narrow to where they were joined. A few more experimental thrusts confirmed it, and from there it was a ballet of positions and methods, both of their bodies capable of unlimited releases and craving more of the unprecedented sensations. He wondered if they had accidentally been designed this way, to only feel this kind of pleasure with another of their own kind. Fucking her was more than just physical pleasure; for him, it was like coming home.

For her, it was like finally being whole. Truly satisfied and wanting the same for him, she rode him to a last orgasm, both so exhausted and overstimulated afterwards that they collapsed beside each other. They rearranged their clothes to form a crude mattress on the hard metal floor of the trailer, and curled up beside each other, fingers intertwined.

They wouldn’t have much time together, but they could love a lifetime’s worth in just a few hours.

————  
“Holy shit, Leroy, you’re right. It’s them.”

David, now the security foreman for the shipping department, shook his head as he peered into the video monitor, seeing the trailer’s occupants huddled together in an intimate embrace. “Yeah,” the driver answered, his usual gruff countenance softening slightly. “I didn’t put it together until I came out from the hotel this morning and found them like this. Poor things. I kind of feel bad for them.”

“Who are they?” The foreman’s assistant asked, leaning in to check out the couple on the screen.

“Hell of a story.” Leroy answered. “About 4 years ago, we had an incident in the lab. These two-“ he pointed at the video feed, “literally stopped production for a whole day because after being tested, they wouldn’t be separated and had to be together.” He shook his head again, grumbling. “We had to memory wipe them 3 times, and eventually had to remove him so we could finish production on her without angering the client, because even a glimpse of him was enough to undo everything. He got finished and shipped out a few weeks later. As you can imagine, the great Cora Mills was less than thrilled. I can only imagine what she’d say if she saw this.”

The two watched the figures on the screen begin to stir, taking a moment to assess the trailer before embracing in a heated kiss. David turned off the monitor, walking away with a huff. “I can’t watch that. I was actually there when it all went down. It still gives me nightmares” He stared out the window, watching a storm gathering on the horizon. “You guys might as well get going. It looks like it’s going to be an ugly night and I don’t think they ever got those damn generators down here working after the last storm. The power always goes out the moment it starts raining, and if that happens I have to herd everyone out asap because the cameras go out too and you know how paranoid they are.”

“Yeah, especially after that Will guy tried to smuggle one of the Compandroids out to be his girlfriend,” Leroy chuckled, waving goodbye as he grabbed his things from a locker and walked out to his car.

  
As he nodded his farewell to Leroy and the rest of the crew, a thought crept into David’s mind. It was stupid and dangerous, likely to get him fired if he didn’t do it just right, but once it was there, he couldn’t shake the idea. For four long years, he’d awakened drenched in sweat next to his beautiful wife, heart racing as he remembered dreaming that it was her being ripped away from him, just as Emma had been dragged from Killian. He would lay awake for hours afterward, torn apart by guilt as he watched her sleep peacefully.

What they had done that day was wrong. He’d known it then, and hadn’t even tried to do anything, too shaken to think straight. He’d transferred away from the lab, but it wasn’t enough. He hadn’t been able to help them. Maybe this was fate’s way of remedying that.

David watched the last few workers drive off, and went about his nightly rounds as always, waiting for the inevitable power failure than seemed to accompany every storm of late. He made a show of securing the computer files and checking the locks on the transport that still held the Compandroid lovers and would until the lab. He was just about to give up, deciding that maybe his ridiculous plan was a momentary loss of sanity, when the power cut just as he was leaving. He thrust his hand into the door, blocking the latch before it clicked into place, and rushed to the truck. Throwing the doors wide, he gazed down at the two startled faces that stared back in shock.

“Come on,” he whispered. “If you want your best chance of getting out of here together, follow me.” They scrambled out of the truck, grabbing their clothes as they dropped to the ground beside him. “Bend the rod, just there,” he instructed, pointing to a piece of the door. “With any luck, it’ll look like you got out yourselves when the security crew shows up for you in the morning.”

————  
Emma looked up at Killian, seeing the same mixture of giddy hope, confusion, and cautiousness that she was feeling. She didn’t know why one of the security guards would help them escape, but she wasn’t about to ask questions just yet. Grabbing the bar, she began to pull, feeling the steel bend as he joined her and their combined effort twisted the metal to the side.

“Yeah, that should be good,” the strange blonde man assured them as he pushed the doors back into place. “Now quickly, let’s go.”

Grabbing Emma’s hand, Killian followed the man through the darkness and out the door, racing through the empty parking lot as the rain pelted them. They slipped into the back of an old SUV, ducking low when the man hissed. “Stay down. I can see security doing their rounds one lot over. Without the lights, they won’t be able to see you if you just stay hidden.” Covering Emma’s wet, nude form with his own, Killian flattened himself as much as he could as their driver put the SUV into gear and they left Mills Mechanics behind.

————

David kept checking his mirrors, silently praying that the ruse had worked as he motored away from the warehouse. After 5 of the most stressful minutes of his life, he breathed out a sigh of relief and pulled off the main highway onto a wooded access road. “It’s ok,” he assured the two huddled lovers, “you can sit up now.”

They sat upright slowly, and a glance in his rear view mirror reminded him that he had two very naked beings in the back of his truck. “Uh, you should probably get dressed. There’s a duffel in the back there somewhere with some clothes in it. My wife Mary Margaret and I are what you might call outdoor enthusiasts. She’s amazing with a bow. Anyway, um, we always have random supplies in the truck. You’ll probably find a few things in there that will work.” He opened his wallet as well, handing a stack of bills to Killian while Emma pulled a white turtleneck over her head and shimmied into some jeans. David worried for a moment; the pants were a favorite of Mary Margaret’s, but he knew she’d forgive him for donating them to a homeless girl, and these two were as homeless as they came. Killian slipped on the jeans he’d retrieved from the transport, stuffing the money into a pocket before he donned his own shirt as well.

“Ok, head for somewhere up north- Canada, wherever. The cold won’t affect you and will keep you running longer. Your tracking devices aren’t activated right now, but they’re in your wrists,” he opened the glovebox and passed them a pocket knife. “They’re about an inch square and green. Take them out before sunrise and leave them somewhere in the woods. If you…”

He was interrupted by the female, who had reached out to grab his shoulder. “Stop. Why are you doing this?”

————

Emma stared at this unknown human, who seemed to taking a massive risk just to help her and Killian break free. Since they’d arrived at the facility just before the end of the day, they hadn’t even come into contact with this man before he’d opened the transport, and she had to know why he would do something so risky.

The man turned to her, smiling sadly. “Because you may not remember me, but I remember you. Both of you. And what I’m doing is something I should have done 4 years ago.”

A chill made her shiver, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. “What do you mean?”

Killian grabbed her hand in his, feeling the tension radiating off her. How did this man know them? And what did he mean by 4 years? He had been with Milah for only a bit over 26 months.

“Before I worked in the shipping department,” the man began slowly, “I was head of security for the lab. One of my jobs was to watch as they paired up Compandroids for final testing before shipping them to their owners. You two were paired, and were supposed to run through some basic interactions over a week, just like every other duo we’d tested. But that isn’t what happened.” Killian squeezed Emma’s hand as the driver paused, swallowing hard. “From the moment you were introduced, it was clear that you were different. You’re a perfect match, in every way, and within days you’d shattered all of the safety limits on your programming and had developed both consciousness and will. And you fell in love.”

Neither Emma nor Killian moved, afraid to break the spell that seemed to surround the truck as the man continued. “I’m a married man, and I know love when I see it. So did everyone else, and it scared the shit out of them. They separated you two, and tried to wipe every trace of what you’d shared from your memories, thinking it would solve the problem. Given what I saw when you arrived tonight, I don’t think they were successful. You were made for each other, and when two people should be together, nobody should keep them apart. By the time I realized just how much we’d wronged you there was nothing I could do. I’ll be damned if I make that mistake twice. My info is in the duffel, if you ever need me. I’m just sorry I can’t do more. You deserve the chance at a happy ending.”

Killian turned to Emma, his heart swelling as she did the same and their eyes met. She was never just some random woman, and his dreams weren’t fantasies. They were memories. She’d known him and loved him once before, loved him so fiercely that they’d been forced apart, but now she was his again. A smile bloomed on her lips as she stared into his eyes. “Thank you,” she said, “but that’s not really what this is.”

She leaned forward, unable to resist placing a kiss to her love’s perfect lips before she opened the door and climbed out with the duffel over her shoulder. Hands still joined, he followed her out of the truck, pulling her close as the security man rolled down the window. “Then what is it, love?” Killian asked, his familiar blue eyes stirring something deep inside her as she smiled up at him. Sending a last nod of thanks towards the vehicle behind her, Emma grinned as she gazed north into the woods.

“It’s our happy beginning.”

————  
Three months later, David arrived home from his new job at the town’s Sheriff’s station to find a postcard proclaiming “Greetings from Storybrooke, Maine” had arrived at the Nolans’ house and was sitting on the kitchen table. He picked it up and glanced at it, then crossed the room and swept his wife into a kiss, declaring how much he loved her and making her giggle with delight.

“You’re in quite the mood, not that I’m complaining,” she laughed. “Good day, I take it?”

David smiled down at her, thinking of the postcard. It was blank save two handwritten words: _Thank you_. “Yeah,” he agreed, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders for the first time in years. “Definitely.”

————

Somewhere deep in the woods of Maine, the windows of a tiny hidden cabin glowed in the fading evening light. Two figures occasionally came into view, little more than silhouettes that came together and separated as they embraced or kissed when their paths crossed. Every so often, joyful laughter filtered out of the isolated little house, disappearing into the sounds of the forest as easily as the faint smoke coming from the chimney drifted on the pine-scented breeze to dissolve into the misty clouds above.


End file.
